Hi, thanks all. It looks like the port forwarding is not working. I get the message below when I try the test suggested. I guess it must be something to do with the modem router and when I get a chance I'll try testing if I can get any incoming traffic - not sure how best to do this though...maybe set up an FTP server and try to access it!

I'm also thinking of using a proxy. My friend suggested hidemyass.com any other suggestions would be really gratefully received.

Thanks again, all really helpful replies.

Cheers, M

The requested resource could not be loaded. libcurl returned the error: couldn't connect to host